[Constitutional Amendment, Connecting the Future] "Korea's High Civic Consciousness Drives Constitutional Reform"

Cha Jina, Professor at Korea University Law School
"Civic consciousness is a driving force for constitutional amendment"
"Compared to Germany, Korea has higher political participation"
"Now is the right time for constitutional reform"
"Trust in the National Assembly is weak... The system should evolve toward power-sharing between the president and prime minister"
"Establishing a multi-party system is more important than anything else"

Professor Cha Jin-ah of Korea University Law School stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 6th, "During the December 3 emergency martial law incident, our country demonstrated a high level of civic consciousness," adding, "The high political participation awareness of the people is a significant advantage compared to Germany, and this can serve as a driving force for constitutional amendment."

Having earned a Ph.D. in law from the University of Saarbr?cken in Germany and having witnessed German politics firsthand, Professor Cha analyzed, "In our country, citizens participate actively in rallies but did not engage in violent behavior (except for the Western District Court incident). However, there are cases where people are drawn to emotionally provocative words or videos." On the other hand, he diagnosed, "In Germany, the general public's participation awareness is not as high as in our country, but they tend to analyze and scrutinize issues coolly."

German politics is regarded as a model of cooperative governance. However, the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) caused a stir by becoming the second-largest party in the German federal parliamentary election last February. Referring to the recent global trend of far-right parties sweeping across Europe as a "crisis of democracy," Professor Cha emphasized, "A new paradigm is needed."

Professor Jin-A Cha of Korea University is being interviewed by Asia Economy in the law school professor's office. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

He explained, "We now live in an era where every move of global leaders is disclosed through various media, and citizens can check information in real time via YouTube channels."

Professor Cha expressed concern, saying, "While there is a positive aspect in representatives or policy leaders communicating directly with the public through social networking services (SNS), this has also led to the worsening of confirmation bias." He analyzed, "The public's demands are becoming more segmented, but existing political parties or policy leaders have limitations in reflecting these diverse demands and understandings of the people. Ultimately, this weakens trust in representatives and causes a bias where a vocal hardline support base is mistaken for the majority of the public, thereby strengthening populism."

Diagnosing that the emergency martial law incident starkly revealed the flaws of the imperial presidential system, Professor Cha emphasized, "A system that can be ruined by mismanagement is not a perfect system," adding, "Now is the right time for constitutional amendment." He urged, "The necessity and consensus for constitutional amendment are greater than ever. If the Constitutional Court issues a ruling to accept impeachment, the presidential election season will immediately begin, and then constitutional amendment will be out of reach. Therefore, the ruling and opposition parties must work together now to build consensus for constitutional amendment."

Professor Cha said, "In the long term, we should move toward a parliamentary system, but public trust in the National Assembly members is currently weak, so it is premature," adding, "Because people have strong affection for the 1987 system of direct presidential elections, meaning 'the president elected by my own hand,' the structure should evolve so that the prime minister and president share roles within the executive branch in a decentralized manner." He also proposed that the Constitutional Court should be granted additional authority as an interpretative body to provide final interpretations when there are disputes over constitutional interpretations among state institutions.

He pointed out, "Although it is not a constitutional amendment, revising the Public Official Election Act to reform the election system is also absolutely necessary," criticizing, "Seats should be allocated based on the distribution of party support rates, but the current system is severely distorted." He added, "The biggest problem is that the diverse opinions of the people are not being reflected in politics," emphasizing, "Establishing a foundation for a multi-party system is more important than anything else."